Babysitting
by Myth Queen
Summary: The Big Guy has agreed to babysit Ashley and Henry for a week while Helen is away. How much trouble can a five-year-old and a ten-year-old get into?
1. Day 1

"Help me!" cried Ashley from somewhere off in the distance, followed by maniacal laughter.

Henry inhaled slowly, trying to think clearly. The bloody wound in his side made it hard to move, but he gritted his teeth in pain and slowly stood-

"No!" Ashley put her hands of her hips, blue eyes flashing. "Why would I be in trouble?"

"Because the bad guy has you." Henry tried to explain to the five-year old. "And that means that I have to rescue you."

Ashley frowned deeply. "And why doesn't the bad guy have you?"

"Because I'm older, that's why."

"And how did you get hurt, anyway? Falling down the stairs."

Henry looked put-out. "No. What happened was that I-"

"I know!" Ashley's eyes suddenly sparkled. "There's a big ugly creature sneaking up on you! It was drawn by the scent of your blood!"

"Because I had just gotten into a fight with a T-rex and barely won!" Henry interjected.

"And now it's gaping jaws are drooling death-" Ashley's eyes widened in terror. She jumped on the couch and held her forefinger and thumb like a gun. "Run, Henry! Run! I'll blast its brains out!"

"Where did you hear that language?!"

Both Henry and Ashley froze like thieves surrounded by the police. The big guy stood in the parlour doorway, glaring down at the two of them.

Ashley quickly jumped down from the couch and hid behind Henry. "We were only playing a game."

"No we weren't. You were messing it up." Henry muttered.

"Ashley Magnus and Henry Foss." The Big Guy slowly approached.

Henry thought about running for it, but the only doorway in sight was behind the huge housecleaner/nanny/nurse/pretty much everything you can think of. He figured it was probably better to stay and talk things out; he might not get in so much trouble.

Ashley, on the other hand, was thinking of what chances she'd stand in a fight. She was thinking that she'd have a very good chance of knocking the Big Guy unconscious. After all, they play-fought quite often and she always won.

"You two are supposed to be in bed."

"But that's mom's rule." Ashley said, widening her eyes to make them look even bluer. The mermaid said blue eyes were hypnotic. Maybe Ashley could hypnotise the Big Guy...

Henry bowed his head, trying to look contrite. "I know. But I wasn't tired and then Ashley came to my room, and I thought that if we ran around the Sanctuary a few times that we'd be all tuckered out."

"Hey!" Ashley jumped away from Henry, a look of the upmost betrayal on her face. "You said that we were going to play a game!"

"Of course, playing a game while running around the Sanctuary would make it so much better, because then our fun would be done for the night." Henry was quick to add.

The Big Guy's face twitched and Henry was certain that Ashley's excessive noise had done them both in.

"All right, you two. It's time to get to bed now."

"But that's mom's rule. Mom's not here-"

"But I am." The Big Guy gave her a piercing glare, and gathered them both under each arm. "I don't want to hear any noise from either of you for the rest of the night."

He deposited them in their separate rooms, and walked down the hall chuckling and shaking his head. When he agreed to watch the two of them for a week, he had no idea what he's be getting himself into.

Meanwhile, as Henry tried obediently to go to sleep, his door opened. A small figure crept into his room and jumped on the bed.

"I guess we showed him what-for!" Ashley whispered excitedly. "But look! There's a giant cockroach coming after you! Quick, run Henry! I'll get a giant shoe!


	2. Day 2

The Big Guy woke up early the next morning to a calm and orderly Sanctuary. It was a quiet, peaceful morning, the kind that makes most people wake up and be happy that they're alive. The Big Guy, however, was a different story.

Panic threatened to choke him when he glanced at the clock. It was seven! How could he have slept so long? Usually the little ones were already up and getting into troubles hours before this! What had happened that it was so silent?

He raced to Ashley's room first. If she was still asleep, then everything would be fine. Henry was too smart a boy to get into mischief- except when he thought he should try to keep Ashley out of mischief.

It was empty. The little nightlight was on, and the blankets were perfectly smooth, except for one corner that was thrown back.

Trying to control his fear, the Big Guy ran to Henry's room. Bits of mechanics were scattered all around, and an old computer hard drive was half shoved under the pillow. No Henry.

"Have you seen the little ones?" the Big Guy asked every resident he came across.

"No." Was every answer.

"Big Guy!" Wallace, that annoying little man with the wheeze, exclaimed. "What's with the long face?"

The Big Guy did not like Wallace, but he kept civil. He only roared and picked him up by his lapels and shook him for two minutes. Had he been rude, he would have shaken him for ten minutes an thrown him against the wall.

"The children are missing!" he shouted in the little man's face. "Look for them!"

There was no arguing that it was a good idea to do as the Big Guy said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ashley and Henry were walking along a narrow ledge on the side of a sewer. Ashley had her hand clamped firmly over her nose, looking down at the sludge in the upmost contempt and disgust.

Henry was having a hard time keeping his panic under control. He didn't care about the sewage. He didn't care that the sewer was dark, dank, dripping and stinky. What he was worried about was that they were completely, hopelessly, utterly lost!

"I'm tired." Ashley moaned. "Can't we go back yet?"

"It was your idea to go running away. I'm just glad I found you." Henry replied archly. He noticed that there were some tearstains on the little girl's face. "You're not afraid, are you?"

"Of course not!" Ashley replied a little too quickly. She hesitated for a moment. "I'm just thinking that the Big Guy is going to tell Mom about us going outside to play. She always worries."

There was a slight clicking noise somewhere in the darkness. Henry stopped walking to listen to it, and swallowed hard. It didn't sound friendly.

"Are we lost?" Ashley asked, her voice trembling.

"No." Henry lied instantly. "I'm just trying to find a fun way to get home."

They started going again, Henry taking Ashley's hand and pulling her along so fast that the five-year-old cried out in protest.

Suddenly a giant figure loomed in the darkness...


	3. Day 3

Henry kicked and screamed, biting and punching at the dark figure that had him in a tight grasp. His only thought was to get away and get Ashley back to the Sanctuary before something bad happened. Of course there was a part of his mind telling him that the Big Guy was going to kill him when they got home.

Ashley, confronted with an actual situation where fighting was required, froze. Later she would claim she was playing dead so that the dark figure would let her go so that she could kick him in the shins and rescue Henry. Truthfully, though, she was trying hard not to cry.

"Stop that!" a hissing kind of voice said, clearly irritated.

Henry didn't stop fighting, and he punched at the shrouded face. He cried out in horror as his fist connected with something soft and wriggly. The dark figure's head was thrown backwards and a shaft of light fell onto a face. Like a beard, small tentacles squirmed. The creature howled in pain, releasing both of the children.

"Ashley, run!" Henry cried, grabbing the younger girl's arm and pulling her up the tunnel.

They hadn't gone far before the dark figure pounced on them again. "Children shouldn't be wandering the tunnels alone."

"My Mom is gonna kick your butt!" Ashley had found her voice again. "She's gonna come and you're gonna be sorry that you kidnapped us!"

"Ashley, be quiet." Henry hissed.

But Ashley ignored him, like she usually did. "My mom's head of the Sanctuary. She can kick your butt from Africa!"

"Helen Magnus?" the creature hissed, and he sounded calculating now. "I wonder how much you're worth to her. My lucky day!"

He started mumbling and rambling to himself, but Henry's heart sank. Whatever chances they had of him just letting them go were gone. He was going to hold them for ransom!

On the bright side, they were leaving the sewers and the sun was shining above.

* * *

The Big Guy put his hairy face in his hairy hands. He had failed! After only one day of watching the children, they had vanished! How could he face Helen? She had trusted him and he had failed. Where in the giant world could Henry and Ashley be?

Though he had promised himself that he wouldn't panic until at least twenty-four hours had gone by, the terror was welling up stronger than ever. They weren't in the Sanctuary.

"We haven't been able to contact Dr. Magnus."

The Big Guy looked up at the ceiling and wished that he was some sort of super-powered abnormal. Seriously what was the point of not being human if he couldn't at least sniff them out?

"I'm going out to look for them." He said, making up his mind then and there. He didn't like straying from the Sanctuary. People tended to stare and shoot at him.

He got his big trench coat and a huge floppy garden hat. He didn't dare look at himself in the full-length mirror on the greeting hall as he went through the front door. He knew he looked ridiculous. He needed a new hat. Floppy garden hats were just undignified, even if he had ripped off the oversized flower that had once adorned it.

At first he simply searched the area closest to the Sanctuary, but nothing turned up. He widened his circle. He kept walking until his feet were sore and he was sweating.

_Maybe I should have driven._ He thought, admitting momentary defeat and sitting down to give his aching feet a rest.

Suddenly there was a ringing in his pocket. Was it the Sanctuary telling him the children had been found? He dug frantically through his coat until he found the tiny cellphone that was about as big as his index finger. He pressed the 'talk' button and held it up to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Big Guy." Ashley's cheerful voice exclaimed.

"Ashley Magnus!" he roared, so relieved to hear her voice that he was furious that she had made him so worried. "Where are you?"

There was a momentary silence, and then a hissing voice came through the speaker. "Am I speaking with the Sanctuary?"

The Big Guy felt his anger drain away. Who was this? "Yes."

"I have the children. Henry and Ashley. And I'm not letting them go until I have my money."

A villain had the little ones! And he was demanding a ransom. The Big Guy growled low in his throat. "How much?"

"Thirty thousand dollars. I will contact you in three days."


	4. Day 4

"More money. Must demand more money." The tentacle-faced person kept muttering to himself over and over as he checked and rechecked the ropes that he had tied the children with. He stopped to briefly check over his shoulder as a trashcan was kicked in the distance, and then bent over the ropes again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Ashley asked.

Tentacle-face froze. "What?" he asked, as though she was speaking a different language.

"You keep checking the knots. Are you looking to see if they're too tight or not tight enough?"

"Ashley, be quiet." Henry scolded, trying to wriggle his hands around so that he could scratch his nose. It seemed like they had been tied up for years. Henry guessed it was closer to a few hours. They had walked for the whole day and finally found themselves in an abandoned warehouse on the warf. "You've gotten us into enough trouble."

"You're the one who got us lost!"

"You're the one who got us out of the Sanctuary in the first place!"

"That's because a giant cockroach was after you! I had to find-"

Henry glared at her and turned his face away. He was hungry, tired, and scared. Tentacle-face kept twitching and scratching, and looking over his shoulder, but the constant muttering was getting on Henry's nerves. He thought about it for a minute, and wondered if he was mad because Ashley got them into this situation or if it was because he was scared.

Either way there wasn't anything he could do.

"No!" tentacle-face suddenly gasped in horror. He backed away from the children. "No, no! Don't do that!"

There was a soft sob beside Henry. He turned and saw that Ashley had tears running down her face. Instantly he felt horrible.

"No crying!" tentacle-face shouted, sounding a little bit hysterical.

"I'm not crying. I've got something in my eye!" Ashley glared for a moment, her lips trembling. She lifted her bound hands to hide her face. "My Mom's gonna kick your butt!"

Henry shrank down as he looked at Ashley. He suddenly realised that she had to be scared. Although of course she would never understand the danger they were in (children, especially five-year-old girls, never understood anything) she knew that being tied up by tentacle-faced beings wasn't normal.

"I said don't cry!" tentacle-face rushed forward, waving his hands.

For an awful moment Henry though that the man might hit Ashley. He let out a savage roar and furiously tore at the ropes with his teeth. He only succeeded in hurting his mouth, but tentacle-face backed off.

"Don't you go near her!" Henry ordered, his voice low and growly. He felt a burning heat in the center of his chest, like he always did when he was really, really mad. It was like a giant, fanged and clawed fire waiting to bust out and wreck havoc.

Tentacle-face backed off even further, and paced up and down. "Children. A little boy. You don't scare me! I am- I am- I am a man! I am- not human. I am- I am-"

For several minutes he repeated the refrain. Henry forced himself to be calm. The fire scared him, even more then tentacle-face.

"I'm Henry."

Tentacle-face stopped pacing and stared at the boy.

"My name is Henry Foss. What's your name?"

"Names have no meaning. Names are nothing!" Tentacle-face replied. "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself... It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

"Hey, that's Shakespeare!" Ashley lowered her hands. Tears were still rolling down her face, but her eyes were bright with interest. "The Big Guy reads that stuff to me."

Tentacle-face stared at her open face, and crept closer. He crouched down near them. "I studied Shakespere, long ago. I still have-" he searched his pockets, and drew out a thick, worn book. "My grandfather's. He hid me. When I was born, this grotesque face-" he passed his hands over the tentacles around his mouth. "My mother, my father both... but not my grandfather. He took me away from them. Hid me."

Henry itched his nose. He wondered if it had turned black. Sometimes it did for no reason at all. "Helen did that for me." He said idly. "I don't know why they didn't want me, but Helen took me away and hid me in the Sanctuary."

"Hey!" Ashley straightened. "You should meet my mom. She helps people all the time."

Tentacle-face jumped to his feet and backed away again. "No-one can help me, little Ashley. I am not. I am not."

And he turned away and started his pacing again.


	5. Day 5

The Big Guy sat down, wanting to cry. He could find nothing – nothing! – that would lead him to the children. They were stuck in the grasp of some insane criminal person who demanded so much money for their return. The Big Guy swallowed hard and stood back up. The insane criminal had said that he would phone back.

The Big Guy turned, once again, to the Sanctuary. Hope against hope, he wished that the children would be there.

"But I don't understand." Ashley frowned. "What does that have to do with dying?"

Henry twisted in his ropes, trying to scratch him nose. "'To sleep and perchance to dream' is actually some metaphor for killing himself."

Wiggle-beard closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-.." He quoted, his voice deepening and rising in just the dramatic touch. "Hamlet is tortured by his uncertainty of himself. He doesn't know if his father's ghost is real or a demon of his own insanity."

Henry frowned. "I didn't know that Hamlet thought that he was insane."

"Then how do you explain "No more-and by a sleep to say we end, The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks, That flesh is heir to.?"

"I don't know. I'm only five."

"Well, I don't think he was insane." Ashley said matter-of-factly.

Wiggle-beard rose his eyebrows. "And why do you say that?"

"Because if he was insane, then why would he talk so much?"

Wiggle-beard stood up so fast that the pain can he sat on tipped over. He stalked away and paced in wild circles, muttering to himself. Ashley wondered if he was insane.

"Bit strange, huh?" she whispered to Henry.

Henry gave her an odd look. "Maybe it would be better if you stopped talking."

George cautiously approached the Big Guy. He kept well out of arm's reach. "Still nothing, sir."

The Big Guy snarled. He hated being called 'sir'. It made him feel like one of those men in tin cans that raced around of horses beating each other up. Honestly, the things humans came up with! "Have the machines set up so that when the kidnapper calls again we can triangulate his position."

"We've already-" George cut off and took off as the Big Guy let out a roar.

Ashley sat very still, trying to play the same game she did with her mom. They'd stare at each other intently until one of them blinked. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Wiggle-face kept looking away.

"I'm bored." She interrupted as he quoted some more of Shakespere's poetry. She liked it well enough at bedtime. It put her to sleep. But every time she started nodded off here, Henry would crack his skull against hers and tell her to stay awake.

Wiggle-face stopped quoting and stared at her.

"I'm bored." She repeated in a louder voice. "I'm bored, I'm hungry, and I'm tired. It is way past my bedtime." Even though the sun was high in the sky. How long had she and Henry been stuck here? It felt like she hadn't had anything to eat, and hadn't had any sleep, for weeks.

"Children need food." Wiggle-face crouched low against a nearby wall. He sounded nervous. "Children need sleep. Children need toys." He turned away from them. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I get money. You go back to the Sanctuary."

"But-"

"Ashley!" Henry cried, exasperated. "I'm bored and hungry and tired, too. We're not going to get anything. We're hostages, remember? What do you think these ropes are for? Are you stupid?"

Ashley could see by the horror that crept over Henry's face that he regretted his words. But that didn't stop the sting of them. Tears welled up in her eyes and though she tried to stop them, they flowed over.

"Ash, I'm sorry."

"Not again." Wiggle-face closed his eyes and covered his ears.

"I just got dirt in my eye." Ashley wailed.

"Ashley, I really am sorry."

Ashley couldn't stop crying. She tried and tried to stop, but the tears kept coming. Worse, she was sobbing. She couldn't even hide her face in her hands.

"I will get food." Wiggle-face jumped to his feet. "Food." He turned and ran away.


	6. DAY 6

Wiggle-beard looked at the children. They were so odd. Especially the little girl. She was crying one minute and the next she looked like she could take on the world. The boy was easier to predict. He would ask questions, become curious, and then remember that he was a prisoner and clam up.

It wasn't easy being a captor. Wiggle-beard didn't realise how hard it would be to keep the children quiet. Add to it that every time the little girl started crying he felt lower than slime in a sewer... but he needed the money. He needed the money. He needed the money. He needed the money.

"Why do you need the money?"

Wiggle-beard stopped and stared at the boy. Was he an abnormal, too? Did he have telepathic abilities? Was he a fairy sent from Oberon? A ghost, like Hamlet's father? A witch in disguise like the ones that Macbeth faced? Was he-

No. The boy was not a being that could read thoughts. Wiggle-beard realised that he had been muttering again.

"None of little boy's business. I need money, I need money-"

"Why don't you move to the Sanctuary?" the little girl asked.

Wiggle-beard stared at her.

"I'm tired of calling you wiggle-beard." She continued, not waiting for a response. "I'm going to call you... Squid. Yep. Squid it is. So, Squid, why do you need money?"

"For food."

The boy frowned. "Why don't you get a job?"

"I'd be food."

The little girl frowned. "You know, if you wanted to, I know Mom would let you come and live at the Sanctuary. She lets all kinds of people in. They love it there. We have a mermaid. She misses her family, but she likes it at the Sanctuary. She tells me all kinds of stories."

Squid sat down. "I would not be welcome."

"Of course you would." Both the boy and the girl said in unison.

"After kidnapping Helen Magnus's daughter?"

"Oh. Right." The little girl frowned. Then she shrugged. "We could just say it was a game."

"Yeah, like that would work." The boy glared at the girl. "I'd say it would be better if you just showed up at the front gate with us and said that you-"

"Rescued us!"

Squid rolled his eyes. The little girl was far too dramatic for her own good. He could imagine her being as famous (or infamous, depends on which side you were on) as her mother. She certainly had no qualms about stating her opinion.

"If he said he rescued us, then the Big Guy would know that he didn't."

Squid turned away and walked to the end of the alley, where it was darker. He heard the children 's argument but ignored it.

The Sanctuary. He had often stood nearby, gazing at the majestic building. He often climbed skyscrapers to stare at it from a distance. He wondered what the inside looked like. He wondered if within those walls he would have refuge, safety, peace. Sanctuary for all... was it possible to be a Sanctuary for him?


	7. All's Well that Ends Well

"And so we came here and the Big Guy nearly pummelled Squid, but we stopped him. And then Squid had a bath and a meal and here we are."

"We're going to talk later." Helen Magnus warned the Big Guy when Ashley, Henry and Squid were finished telling their story.

The Big Guy lowered his head, ashamed.

"But seriously do you quote Shakespeare?" Helen asked Squid.

Squid nodded. "Shakespeare's cool."

Helen shrugged. "All right. Ashley, it's time for bed. Go brush your teeth and I'll be up to tuck you in."

"But-"

"Now, Ashley. And Henry, you need to go finish your homework."

Ashley sighed, and dragged her feet as she walked, but did as she was told. While she left, Henry hid behind the sofa, but the Big Guy picked him up and walked him to the door. Helen smiled, and then turned back to Squid.

"Can I stay?" he asked quickly. After he had a good shower and a proper meal, he didn't feel so twitchy.

Helen surveyed him for a long time. Eventually she nodded. "As long as you obey the rules and do your share of the work."

Squid nodded eagerly. "I have, in this rough work, shaped out a man-"

"Timon of Athens." The Big Guy interrupted before Squid to get too carried away. "I've heard it before."

"Recently?" Squid asked in disappointment.

"You've been quoting it every time somebody says 'work'."

Squid shifted. "I have, in this rough work, shaped out a man-" he muttered under his breath.

"George, can you show Mr. Squid to his room."

"I thank thee, my lady." Squid got to his feet and bowed deeply. "Thank thee with all of mine heart."

Helen waited until there were no more witnesses. She turned on the Big Guy with fire in her eyes. She flicked her wrist and a small handgun fell from her sleeve into her waiting fingers. She lifted it level to the Big Guy's head.

"This is the last time you endanger my children." She seethed, and pulled the trigger.

Not really. But I bet all you clever readers knew that already, huh? All right, so this is was really happened.

Helen waited until there were no more witnesses. She turned on the Big Guy with fire in her eyes. "One week." She said.

"I know." The Big Guy looked down at his feet.

"I ask you to watch them for _one week_. It hasn't even been a full week!"

"I know."

"This is the first time I've been able to take a vacation in fifty years, and you call me back early?"

The Big Guy shook his head emphatically. "No, that was George. I just wanted you to know what was going down around here. George is the one who told you to come back."

"True." Helen thought for a moment. "But you let Henry and Ashley run away and get kidnapped! I shouldn't have left in the first place!"

The Big Guy was alarmed. He had never seen Helen so irrational and moody- except when she was pregnant with Ashley. He gulped, wondering how to breach the topic. Helen paced the room for a moment, and then came back to stand beside him.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

"S'okay."

"No, it's not. I know that you are a responsible individual and that you take very good care of the children. When Ashley gets something in her head... Well, there's just no telling what she will do next. And Henry is always trying to keep her out of trouble." Helen smiled briefly. "I saw Druitt."

The Big Guy instantly grew concerned. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure I can talk about it right now. But he knows Ashley's here. That's the real reason I came back. I think he's going to try to kidnap her."

"So you're not pregnant?" the Big Guy asked in relief.

"Do I look-"

"No, you're acting like it."

Helen's brow puckered, and then she laughed. "No. You don't have to worry about making ice-cream pickle sundaes." She grew sombre again. "I'm glad it worked out this time, with Squid, but Ashley has got to learn that everything that goes bump in the night is not friendly."

"She's got a great teacher and mother." The Big Guy assured her.

"Thank you." Helen smiled.

The brave, intrepid lioness Ashley poked her head into the room. Mommy and the Big Guy were talking. Neither of them noticed when she sneaked in, treading softly on her four huge paws. She crept along the floor, crouched down low over the carpet. The grasses swayed around her, hiding her. She was getting close now... so close...

She pounced!

The End.

Author's note;

I would like to thank everybody who stuck with me this long. Thanks for all the brilliant reviews! Have a great day!


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